Collect Payments Right From Your Invoices
Projul’s integrated payment processing lets clients pay invoices digitally from a secure payment link attached to your invoice. Over 5,000 contractors use Projul to collect payments faster and keep cash flow steady.
Get real-time payment notifications when customers pay via ACH or card. No more wondering if a check is in the mail.
Why Getting Paid Is the Hardest Part of Construction
You’d think the hardest part of running a construction business is the work itself. Framing walls, pulling wire, pouring concrete. But most contractors will tell you the same thing: getting paid is harder than doing the job.
Here’s why payment is such a headache in this industry:
Long payment cycles. Residential and commercial projects can take weeks or months. You’re paying for materials and labor upfront, but your client might not owe you the final payment for 90 days. That gap kills cash flow.
Multiple billing stages. You don’t send one invoice and move on. Deposits, progress payments, change orders, retainage, final invoices. Every project has multiple billing events, and each one is an opportunity for delays.
Clients who “forget.” Some clients genuinely forget. Others are slow on purpose. Either way, you’re the one chasing money while trying to run your next job. Without a system that makes paying easy and sends automatic reminders, you’ll spend hours every week following up.
Checks are slow and unreliable. A check takes days to arrive and days to clear. It can bounce. It can get lost. Meanwhile, you’ve got a crew expecting paychecks on Friday. Card and ACH payments solve all of these problems.
No system in place. A lot of contractors are still emailing PDF invoices and hoping for the best. There’s no payment link, no tracking, no reminders. It’s the equivalent of leaving money on the counter and hoping nobody walks by.
Projul fixes this by connecting your invoicing directly to payment processing. Your client gets an invoice with a payment link. They click, pay, done. You get notified instantly.
Credit Card vs. ACH vs. Check: Which Is Best for Contractors?
Every payment method has trade-offs. Here’s a straightforward breakdown so you can decide what works best for your business.
Credit card payments
Pros: Fastest clearing time. Clients can pay instantly from their phone. Higher likelihood of on-time payment because it’s so easy.
Cons: Processing fees are higher (typically 2.5-3.5%). On a $50,000 invoice, that’s $1,250-$1,750. For large invoices, that adds up.
Best for: Smaller invoices, deposits, service calls, and situations where speed matters more than fee savings.
ACH payments (bank transfer)
Pros: Much lower processing fees than credit cards. Still faster than checks (typically 2-3 business days). No risk of bounced checks.
Cons: Slightly slower than credit card. Clients need to enter bank details, which some find inconvenient the first time.
Best for: Larger invoices, progress billing payments, and clients you work with regularly.
Checks
Pros: No processing fees.
Cons: Slow (mail time plus clearing time). Can bounce. Easy to lose. Requires a trip to the bank. No automatic tracking.
Best for: Honestly? Very little in 2026. The time you spend waiting and chasing checks usually costs more than processing fees.
The bottom line
Most contractors do best with a mix of credit card and ACH, letting the client choose. For smaller jobs and deposits, credit card is fast and easy. For larger progress payments, ACH saves on fees. Projul supports both, and your client picks their preferred option right from the invoice.
How Integrated Payment Processing Saves You Time
“Integrated” isn’t just a buzzword here. It means your payment processing lives inside the same tool you use for estimating, invoicing, and project management. That changes everything.
No double entry
When a client pays through Projul, the payment is recorded automatically. The invoice status updates, your reports reflect the payment, and if you’re using QuickBooks integration, the payment syncs there too. You don’t log into a separate portal to reconcile anything.
Automatic payment tracking
Projul’s dashboard shows you which invoices are paid, which are outstanding, and which are overdue. You don’t have to cross-reference bank statements with invoice spreadsheets. It’s all in one place.
Faster payment collection
The numbers don’t lie. Contractors who add digital payment options to their invoices get paid faster. When a client can tap a link and pay in 30 seconds, they do it. When they have to write a check, find an envelope, and drive to the mailbox, they put it off.
Surcharge options
Processing fees eating into your margins? Projul lets you pass those fees to your clients. The surcharge is calculated and applied automatically. Just make sure you check your state’s rules on surcharging, since they vary.
What Happens When You Don’t Have a Payment System
Contractors without integrated payment processing usually follow the same painful pattern:
- Create an invoice in one tool (or a Word doc).
- Email it as a PDF.
- Wait.
- Call the client after a week to ask if they got it.
- Client says they’ll “send a check.”
- Wait another week.
- Check arrives. Drive to the bank.
- Check clears three days later.
- Manually update your records.
That’s 2-3 weeks from invoice to cash in your account. And it requires multiple follow-ups from you or your office staff.
With Projul, that same process looks like this:
- Create an invoice (auto-populated from your estimate).
- Client gets it with a payment link.
- Client pays by card or ACH.
- You get notified. Payment is recorded automatically.
That’s days instead of weeks. And you didn’t have to pick up the phone once.
Payment Processing for Every Project Stage
Construction payment processing isn’t one-size-fits-all. Different project stages need different payment approaches.
Deposits. Collect deposits before work starts to cover initial material costs. Projul makes it easy for clients to pay a deposit invoice with a credit card right away.
Progress payments. As you hit milestones, progress billing lets you invoice for completed work. Attaching payment processing to these invoices means clients can pay each stage immediately.
Final payments. The last invoice on a project is often the hardest to collect. Making it as easy as possible to pay (one click from the invoice) reduces the delay between project completion and final payment.
Service calls. For T&M and service work, quick payment collection is critical. Your tech finishes the job, sends the invoice from Projul, and the client pays before they leave the site.
Integrate ACH and Credit Card Payments
Projul supports both credit card and ACH payments directly from your invoices, giving clients flexible options to pay you faster. With no per-user fees, your entire team can send payment-enabled invoices from Projul without added cost.
Replace weekly check collections with ACH payment options built right into Projul.
Pass processing fees to clients
Projul lets you pass processing fees to clients, putting transaction costs back into your business profits. Contractors using Projul see a 32% average profit increase, and keeping processing fees off your plate is part of that.
Projul automatically calculates and applies processing costs to invoices for card and ACH payments.
- Stay on top of every invoice and estimate
- Quickly check the progress using visualizations
- Filter and sort the invoice cards to suit your needs
Get paid on every type of job
Whether it’s a quick service call or a months-long build, Projul has you covered. Invoicing handles standard billing, while service invoicing pulls time and materials into invoices automatically. For longer projects, progress billing lets you collect payments at each milestone.
Security and Trust in Digital Payments
Some contractors worry about digital payment security, both for themselves and their clients. Here’s what you should know.
Projul partners with JustiFi for payment processing. All transactions are encrypted and PCI-compliant. Your clients’ payment data is protected with the same standards used by major financial institutions.
Clients trust secure payment links. When your client gets an invoice with a professional payment link (not a random Venmo request), it builds confidence. They see your company name, the invoice details, and a secure payment form. It’s the professional experience they expect.
You get confirmation instantly. No more “I sent the check last week” conversations. When a client pays through Projul, you get a real-time notification. The payment is recorded, timestamped, and tracked in your dashboard.
Dispute protection. Digital payments create a clear paper trail. If a client disputes a charge, you have the invoice, the payment confirmation, and the full transaction history. That’s harder to argue with than a canceled check.
Stop chasing payments
Tired of following up on unpaid invoices? Automated client reminders send payment notifications on your schedule so you don’t have to pick up the phone.
